Chapter 26: The Aftermath Has Not Subsided

  In the twenty-third year of Dà Yōng Wǔ Wēi (the first year of Zhì Huà of Southern Chu), on the third day of the eleventh month, the Holy Emperor issued an edict, granting special favor to the King of Qí, and everyone knew that his intention was actually for the King of Yōng.

  "The Old Book of Tang · Emperor Taizong's Basic Annals"

  Leaving the Cui Luan Hall, Ji Guifei took a deep breath and vented her frustration. Liang Wan was not only the beloved disciple of Men Zhuo Hui Yao, but also an important pawn of Feng Yi Men. She had made outstanding contributions in Jiangnan and even reached an agreement with Crown Prince Li An. Unexpectedly, she was ruined this time in Jiangnan, which was heart-wrenching. The master of the door sent a secret letter, asking her to investigate all the details of Liang Wan's madness. Ji Guifei knew that the master suspected that Yong Wang had interfered, after all, he had been dissatisfied with Liang Wan for some time and even sent people to establish another intelligence network. However, from the mouth of Princess Chang Le, who was the only one to have personally experienced the matter, she did not get any useful information.

  Ji Guifei smiled coldly, who else could it be besides the Yong King? If it were someone from Nan Chu, they would not let Princess Chang Le go so easily. Unless it was one of the Yong King's subordinates, they would treat Princess Chang Le with such courtesy. But there is no evidence, and she couldn't just accuse the Yong King Li Zai without reason.

  Thinking about the emperor's reward, Ji Guifei felt even colder. At today's celebration, Li Yuan announced that due to the Yong King's outstanding military achievements over the years, and his recent conquests of Shu and Chu, his merits were unparalleled. His current position could not reflect his contributions, so he was decreed to be promoted to Tian Ce Yuan Shuai, leading the Grand Preceptor, ranking above all kings and nobles. He was awarded 20,000 households, a suit of imperial robes, a golden carriage, a pair of jade pendants, 6,000 kilograms of gold, nine bands of music, and forty sword-bearing guards. This was an unprecedented honor, even surpassing that of the Crown Prince's ceremony.

  What made Empress Ji even more heartbroken was that the Emperor had issued a special decree allowing the Heavenly Strategy Commander's Mansion to appoint its own officials. According to Li Zuo's report, there were one long history, one marshal, two attendants, two military advisors, four clerks, two accountants, two recorders, and two memorialists, as well as six departments of merit, granary, army, cavalry, armor, and scholar-officials, each with two officials. This made Li Zuo's Heavenly Strategy Commander's Mansion a small but complete court in its own right. Would the Emperor change his mind and make Li Zuo the crown prince? After thinking about it for half a day, Empress Ji shook her head. Although Prince Yong had great merit, the Crown Prince had not committed any obvious wrongdoing, and according to her understanding of the Emperor, she feared that tonight the Emperor would regret giving Prince Yong too many rewards. She estimated that within a few days, the Emperor would think of ways to reduce Prince Yong's power. Throughout history, those with great merit often suffered, and few had good endings. Thinking of this, Empress Ji revealed a triumphant smile.

  At this time, a eunuch in red rushed over and reported: "Your Majesty, the Emperor has issued an edict, tonight he will rest at your place, please return to the palace quickly. I estimate that within half an hour, the Emperor will arrive." Consort Ji was overjoyed in her heart, she knew very well that although she looked good, but when it came to emotions and favoritism, she did not stand out in front of the Emperor. Moreover, she had always been thin-skinned and rarely received love and affection. However, as the connection between the Phoenix Gate and the Emperor, she was often allowed to participate in state affairs. Tonight, the Emperor wanted to stay at her place, it seemed that he wanted to discuss the matter of Prince Yong. It seemed that her thoughts were not wrong, the Emperor had already become very wary of Prince Yong. Thinking of this, a smile bloomed on Consort Ji's face like a spring flower.

  Some were delighted, while others were worried. After the grand celebration banquet, it was also the case in the magnificent Prince's Mansion. Li An furiously swept all the documents on his desk to the ground and shouted: "Li Zuo, I won't kill you, I swear not to be a human being." After shouting, he fell into the chair, staring viciously at the door of the study, as if King Yong was about to come out from there. For a long time, he said wearily: "Summon someone, ask Shao Fu to see me."

  But in a moment, an ordinary-looking black-haired scholar walked in. He was wearing the official uniform of the Crown Prince's tutor and did not salute the prince when he saw him. Instead, he sat down on a chair to the left of the prince and smiled: "Your Highness is so angry?"

  Li An angrily said: "Li Zuo is now the Tian Ce Yuan Shuai, the old man almost gave him my position as crown prince, how can I not be angry."

  The scholar smiled and said: "Your Highness is worrying too much, the Emperor has always been very fond of you, if he wanted to make Prince Yong the crown prince, he would have done so long ago, why wait until today."

  Li An said dejectedly: "The Junior Tutor does not know, at the beginning his mother was the emperor's first wife, I am the eldest son, but I am a concubine, later her mother died early and went to heaven, my empress dowager was established as the legitimate queen, after the emperor ascended the throne, he posthumously honored his mother as Empress Xiaoxian, so if we talk about legitimacy, I am not as good as him, but I took the name of the eldest son, and the empress dowager is now the current empress, only then did I become the crown prince, now, now, I really do not know what to do, if the emperor changes his mind, I really have no way out."

  The scholar's eyes flashed, and he said: "Your Highness is a bystander who is confused, but I think the prince's position appears to be precarious on the surface, but in reality it is as stable as Mount Tai. Your Highness thinks that the emperor favors Prince Yong, but I think the emperor suspects Prince Yong. Think about it, Prince Yong has been fighting wars for many years, and our great empire has largely been won by him. The emperor cannot help but feel that he owes his son a debt of gratitude. Now that Prince Yong's merits are unmatched, if the emperor were to make him the crown prince, it would be a natural thing to do. However, the emperor is willing to make an exception and reward him, but refuses to change the position of the crown prince. This clearly shows that the emperor favors the crown prince. I think the emperor does not love Your Highness, but rather that your ascension to the throne represents the emperor's absolute authority. Therefore, no matter what, the emperor will not change his decision. As long as you show filial piety to the emperor and empress, respect the concubines, and treat Prince Yong with brotherly kindness, the emperor will not replace the crown prince. Moreover, there is also the support of Fengyi Gate. Do you think that Liang Yu's betrayal was her own decision? After some time, the emperor will think about what will happen after his death, and if the crown prince cannot suppress Prince Yong, how can he be at ease? He will think of ways to suppress Prince Yong. As long as you ascend to the throne, with Qi Wang assisting from outside and Fengyi Gate helping from within, taking Prince Yong's life would be easy as turning one's hand over."

  Li An listened for a long time and finally smiled with joy, saying: "Shaofu, thank you for enlightening the lonely king. In your opinion, what should we do now?"

  The scholar smiled and said, "The more you do, the more mistakes you make; the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make. Your Highness might as well merge with the light and dust. However, it's Qi Wang that Your Highness needs to win over even more. The other day, when Qi Wang was defeated in battle, Your Highness gave him quite a bit of face. This is absolutely not right. If there hadn't been Qi Wang's help, Your Highness wouldn't have had the great general who would later support and protect you."

  Li An stood up, bowed deeply and said: "I humbly accept your teachings." A sly smile spread across his face as he continued: "Sixth Brother likes beautiful women. I recently selected two exceptionally beautiful women, originally intending to present them to the Emperor, but for now, let's choose one to give to him instead."

  That scholar also showed a flirtatious smile on his face, but immediately pulled it back. Li An glanced at him and smiled: "Shao Fu is still pretending to be serious in front of the Lonely King, that absolute beauty can't be given to you, but the king has several beauties, how about sending two to you?"

  The scholar lowered his eyes and said: "Then thank you, Your Highness, for your reward."

  Li An burst out laughing, his laughter echoing out of the study, far, far away.

  Li Zuo returned to the mansion with a hint of intoxication, took some medicine to sober up, and hastily washed himself in cold water. He then arrived at the council hall feeling refreshed. Inside the hall were already seated Shi Tuo, Shi Ziyou, Guan Xiu, Dong Zhi, and Gou Lian, several advisors. The military generals had all returned drunk that day, so Li Zuo didn't summon them. Seeing his advisors engaged in hushed discussions, he ordered Sima Xiong to stand guard outside. He walked in with a smile, saying: "I've kept you gentlemen waiting for too long. I apologize for my tardiness."

  Several advisors stood up and bowed, then sat down. Li Zhi looked at Shi Yi and asked: "Have you seen Jiang Zhe? What do you think of him?"

  Shi Yu smiled wryly and said, "Jiang Zhe arrived at the Wang Fu, calm and composed as if it were his own home. The subordinates arranged the best courtyard for him, but he just smiled lightly and moved in. Afterwards, he didn't raise any objections to the maidservants and attendants arranged by the prince either. If I didn't know that this person has always refused to surrender to the prince, I would have thought he had already pledged his loyalty to the prince. I think if the prince were to arrange an official position for him, he wouldn't refuse it. It seems he quite likes a comfortable life and at least won't resist to the death."

  Li Zai sighed and said, "This is something I am well aware of. If it weren't for this, I'm afraid I would still have some tricks up my sleeve. If he were to seek death with a clear conscience, I would only need to treat him well and take good care of him, and eventually there would come a day when he would change his mind. But since he is so carefree and content with the status quo, even if I were to give him an official position, I'm afraid he would still be idle and do nothing but write poetry, discuss music, chess, books, and paintings every day. He is reluctant to grant me what I truly need. Alas, I wish I could transform into De Qin Wang Zhao Ke, who although unfortunate, had once been treated with sincerity by him. Sigh... What I am most worried about is Qi Wang, Qi Wang may be rough around the edges, but he is not without his wits. He told me to treat Jiang Zhe with the respect due to a teacher."

  Guan Xiu and others exchanged a smile, saying: "Your Highness is overthinking this. If this person can be so easily moved by the King of Qi, we wouldn't have to go to such great lengths."

  Li Zuo thought for a moment and felt that he was overthinking things. He was about to tease him, but saw Shi Tuo looking thoughtful, and said with some concern: "Zi You, don't you think it's possible that the King of Qi will recruit Jiang Suiyun?"

  Shi Yu came back to his senses and smiled: "Your Highness, this idea of the King of Qi is not bad, but it's a bit too flattering. However, we can learn from it. The young master is intelligent and clever, although he's only five years old, he already knows how to read and write roughly. If we let him become his teacher, then wouldn't he become Your Highness' right-hand man? I think he won't be willing to lose such a talented person."

  Li Zuo was overjoyed and said, "Zi You is indeed a good strategist. Alright, tomorrow we'll set up a banquet to welcome him back, and let the Crown Prince come out to pay his respects. We must act quickly, as I've already reported this matter to the Emperor, and he wants to summon him. Once the Emperor summons him, we won't be able to keep him under house arrest anymore."

  Although it may not achieve its purpose, there is a way to do it. Li Zuo suddenly felt relaxed all over and smiled: "Right, Zi You, you said that the princess of Chang Le was hijacked, what's going on? I sent someone to investigate, but the time was too short, and nothing could be found out. I sent people to the place where they were ambushed to investigate, it seemed like a small army, but who would rush to hijack the princess at that time? Moreover, what this king doesn't understand is why those returning spies would commit suicide, the princess is safe and sound, no matter what, their merits are greater than their faults, even if they were afraid of punishment and took their own lives, they should have explained the situation to this king in detail.

  These things have been discussed many times by Xiū and others, and Li Zé brought it up now just to see Shi Wei's opinion. Shi Wei replied: "I've also thought about this problem, and the only conclusion is that first of all, they weren't targeting the princess's mansion, their goal was Liang Yuàn, otherwise they wouldn't have only harmed Liang Yuàn, and those spies committed suicide, I think it wasn't because they were afraid of punishment, but rather a kind of agreement. They saw the kidnappers and probably knew many things, but they could bring the princess back safely, this point not only shows that they didn't have malicious intentions towards the princess, but also that they were confident their secrets wouldn't be revealed. The princess never knew anything, so those spies must have promised to kill themselves."

  Li Zai said: "Although it is so, to say something unpleasant, these spies are my Da Yong warriors and should be loyal and trustworthy. However, now that they have returned to the king's side, shouldn't telling the truth take precedence over keeping their promise?"

  Shi Yu sighed and said: "This is the most frightening point, unless they think that killing themselves is more beneficial to Your Highness than telling you the truth."

  Li Zai's expression turned stern and he said, "You're saying that those people have enough power to threaten me."

  Shi Yu nodded and said, "Yes, according to Yongquan, after the incident, the prince examined the bodies of those spies and found that although they had been subjected to some torture, it was not severe. In other words, the opponent is not a person who uses excessive punishment. However, from Liang Wan's perspective, her memories were completely destroyed, which is a very sinister method. This means that the opponent's methods are ruthless and cruel. I think those spies must have been under tremendous pressure, and finally exceeded their limits of endurance, which led them to keep their promise and take their own lives."

  Li Zai said with a worried tone: "I didn't expect that there were still people secretly active in the dark, Zi You, what do you think is the origin of these people?"

  Shi Yu replied, "I think the only thing that can be guessed is that those people have no hostile intentions towards Da Yong, otherwise Your Highness would not have returned safely. However, regarding Liang Wan, I think it's either related to Feng Yi Men or her actions in Nan Chu. Your Highness may want to investigate from these two aspects."

  Li Zai nodded repeatedly and said: "Zi You is the king's liver and gallbladder. If there was no Zi You, where would the king have his fighting spirit?"

  Shi Yu smiled and said: "Jiang Zhe is indeed the wings of Your Highness, if Your Highness has this person, it would be like adding wings to a tiger."

  Everyone looked at each other and smiled.

  On this sleepless night, I too did not rest. Standing by the window, I gazed at the beautiful scenery of the snow-covered garden. Xiao Shunzi walked over and complained: "Young master, your body has just recovered a bit, yet you're standing here in the wind again. Don't you know how to take care of yourself? It's very cold here, I've already had them prepare a hand warmer." After speaking, she stuffed a hand warmer into my bosom and draped a fox-fur cloak over my shoulders.

  I smiled and said: "Don't worry, I'm not that weak. How about you, have you seen the defenses of the Yong Wang Fu?"

  Xiao Shunzi smiled and said: "They are watching very closely, I just took a casual look, if it were just me, there wouldn't be anything, but if I brought the young master, we might not be able to escape."

  I waved my hand and said, "It's nothing, I didn't plan on you rescuing me anyway. In any case, I can always keep myself alive, it's just that I don't want to be a slave to others. Those people are killing each other, someone will eventually unify the world, no matter who it is, it doesn't make a difference. Besides, Prince Yong has a good chance of winning. Xiao Shunzi, look, it's snowing again."

  Xiao Shunzi followed my gaze to look out the window, where the snowflakes were falling silently and thickly. The cold wind blew against our faces, and he couldn't help but laugh: "In Southern Chu, whenever it happens to snow slightly, Master would want to go out and drink wine in the snow. Now that the snow is so good here, has Master gotten excited again?"

  I nodded and said: "Yes, tomorrow you go ask them for some good charcoal, ask for some good wine. I think the snow won't stop tomorrow either, I want to drink and make poetry."

  Xiao Shunzi said: "This I can only help you warm up your wine for now, those poems and essays I don't understand."

  I sighed, "Yes, you, the only thing that makes me dissatisfied is that you can't accompany me to write poetry papers. However, if I didn't have you, I wouldn't be able to enjoy drinking wine as much either. Good friends, good wine, and flying snow are all indispensable. What a pity, if Xiangxiang were still here..."

  Xiao Shunzi comforted him, saying: "Young master, it's gone, don't be too sad."

  I gaze out at the snowflakes flying outside the window, speechless once more.

  The next day, as expected, the snow fell continuously. Li Ze received a message that Li Yuan had issued an edict because of the two battles fought by Prince Qi against Southern Chu, with great achievements and also causing King De of Southern Chu to be seriously injured and die. Therefore, he was appointed as the Grand Minister of Works, and awarded a set of ceremonial robes, a golden carriage, a pair of jade pendants, 2,000 catties of gold, two teams of drummers and pipers, and twenty sword-bearing guards.

  Upon learning this news, Li Zuo did not get angry, but was thoroughly disheartened. He had won the battle, yet received Emperor Taizong's suspicion as a result. Wasn't rewarding Qi Wang meant to counterbalance himself? He calmly said to Shi Chong, "Ziyou, how thin is Father Emperor's treatment of me."

  Shi Yu also sighed endlessly, just about to comfort Li Zai, when Gou Jian hurriedly walked in and said: "Your Highness, Your Highness, Jiang Suiyun's servant came to ask for charcoal and fine wine, wanting to go out to enjoy the snow. I've already had someone lead him to Linbo Pavilion."

  Li Zai suddenly turned his anger into joy and said: "Good, you've done well. Let's go and join in the fun. Zi You, make arrangements for us to take the young master to Linbo Pavilion in half an hour."

  At this time, I was already sitting in the Linbo Pavilion. In the back garden of the Yongwang Mansion, there is a small lake of about two mu, which is said to have been originally a spring with abundant water, so it was dug into this small lake and then flowed into the Yong'an Canal through the drainage system of Chang'an, and the Yong'an Canal connects the Wei River in the north of the city, supplying half of the water used in Chang'an. It is also an important water transportation route, so although this lake is within the imperial city, it is a flowing body of water.

  Xiao Shunzi warmed up the wine while saying: "Young master, why isn't it cold at all in this pavilion?"

  I smiled and said, "I've only read about it in books. Look at the top of this pavilion, although you can only see a thick layer of thatch grass, but beneath this layer of grass is actually quite something. Underneath the grass is a layer of oilcloth, then another layer of thatch grass, and another layer of oilcloth, for a total of three layers. Then, on top of the last layer of oilcloth, they've laid down special hollow tiles, so you don't have to worry about losing heat from your head. And look at the stone floor and the benches around the edges, as well as those copper pillars - actually, there are heating pipes under the pillars and beneath the pavilion, just like the kang in ordinary people's homes. As for the water, it's a winter-warm and summer-cool thing. When the water flows, it brings all the heat from underground with it, so the closer you get to the water, the warmer it is. So how could this pavilion be cold? This is a special snow-viewing pavilion built by wealthy families in the north. As long as you wear some light fur and hold a hand warmer, you won't freeze. Look, outside the snow is flying wildly, like pear blossoms dancing in the air, and the ground is covered in jade-like ice crystals - what a wonderful place!"